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Velcrow Ripper's blog

Velcrow Ripper is an acclaimed Canadian documentary filmmaker. He has won dozens of awards for his films, including two Genies (Canadian Academy Awards), for the feature documentaries Scared Sacred and Bones of the Forest -- a film about native elders and the struggle to save ancient forests from logging. His latest film, Fierce Light, is about bringing together spirituality and activism. He has interviewed many of the world's luminaries, including The Dalai Lama, Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu, Thich Nhat Hanh, Noam Chomsky, etc. His movies are seen widely around the world, broadcast on television, shown in movie theaters and used extensively by grassroots groups. He is currently completing "Occupy Love" www.occupylove.org For more info visit: www.velcrowripper.com

There has been a great deal of talk in the Occupy movement around the fear of co-optation. The latest round of debate has been around the 99% Spring movement. Adbusters has sounded the alarm with the cry “#DefendOccupy.” The basic premise of the current debate is whether MoveOn.org is a bogeyman that is stealing the ideas of Occupy for its own ends, which some claim are as a “front group” for the democratic party.

"Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love." -- Martin Luther King Jr.

Today the Occupy Movement will be engaging in global actions centred around the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The heart of Dr. King's vision offers wonderful inspiration for the movement -- one that is deeply rooted in love. King's approach to activism was all about "love in action."

Love's evolution is my resolution, my revolution, my solution. The time is now. 2012 is upon us. The beginning is here!

I'd like to offer you an invitation, an invocation, a wake up call. Wake up! (Zen hand clap) It's time to come to our senses, and wake up! Listen -- can you hear the alarm bells ringing? Can you hear the cries of Mother Earth? Can you hear the cries of Her children? Can you smell the stench of an industrial growth addicted civilization rotting from the inside out?

Sorry to hear you are so full of fear, that with violent disregard for democracy, you felt compelled to bulldoze the heart of the people's park of parks into the ground.

Last night's raid of Occupy Wall Street was a disgrace. Altogether lacking in grace. Claiming it was a health hazard is a ruse that's been in use since the eviction of Martin Luther King's version of Occupy -- "Resurrection City," back in 1968.

To be said with an incredulous New Yorker's accent: "And your tear gas isn't a health hazard?"

At a time when evictions and eviction orders are happening to the Occupy Movement in Canada, here's my video message to Occupy Canada, expressing what I feel is the heart of the movement, asking us to consider what is Occupy 2.0, and some thoughts about the challenges facing Occupy Vancouver, which is near my home town.

Sending love to all those who are working for a just and compassionate world, those who haven't yet started, and those who stand in the way. We are the 100%.

It has been an electric year for global change -- the Arab Spring, the European Summer, the Israeli Summer and now -- what shall we call it? The American Fall? The occupation of Wall Street began on September 17, and is expected to continue for weeks to come. According to Adbusters, who launched the action, 5,000 descended on September 17th, with three hundred camping out. It's ten days later, and the numbers are growing in "Liberty Square," where the protesters have camped out, as are solidarity actions in the financial districts of other cities.

The 16th Climate Summit has washed over us, and thankfully, this vital process is still alive. There were three possible outcomes insiders were predicting here at Cancun -- stagnation, train wreck or fragile life line. We got the life line.

"There is hope in communities, in resiliency, in the commons, making sure that power can be exerted at the place where people live, there's hope from the Peoples Summit on Climate Change in Cochabamba, who developed the declaration of mother earth rights." Third World Network, COP 16 Climate Summit, Cancun, Mexico

During the climate summit in Copenhagen last year, I suffered from a severe case of "summit envy," especially after my pal, activist extraordinaire Judy Rebick, informed me that she thought it was the most important moment of movement building since the WTO protests in Seattle. Which I also missed.

The World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth is over, but the momemtum generated by this first initiative will create ripples that will continue for some time. I am left with a feeling of tremendous hope, and a sense that this is just the beginning, that we are on our way to the formation of a global movement for climate justice, that there are many, many people who care, who are prepared to devote their hearts, their minds, and their passion to slowing down and turning around the tragic trajectory that has been set by the industrial growth society.